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Atlanta Regional Processing Office
Education Structure

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The Atlanta Regional Processing Office (RPO) is one of four offices in the country to process education claims.     It was formed in July 1989.     Initially it only processed Montgomery G.I. Bill (Chapter 30) education benefits.     In 1996 the Atlanta RPO began processing all education benefits for students attending schools and training establishments in the southeast.     Currently this RPO processes claims for seven states (North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee), Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.     This represents about 20% of the national education workload.

Graphic of 3 People Having a Meeting.In June 2002 all four Regional Processing Offices adopted the same organizational structure.     The office operates under the direction of the Education Officer and Assistant Education Officer.     Each office has three sections: a claims processing section, a customer service section and an outreach section.

Graphic of a Man & Woman Looking at a Computer Screen.Our claims processing section is composed of three processing units and a support unit.    One of the three claims processing units handles all original claims for Chapter 30 and Chapter 1606 benefits.     This unit determines the applicant's eligibility for benefits and makes the initial benefit award.     The second unit handles all re-enrollments for Chapter 30 and Chapter 1606 benefits.     The third unit processes Chapter 32 and Chapter 35 claims, both original and re-enrollment claims.     This unit also processes all cases that cannot be worked through our computer system (BDN - the Benefits Delivery Network).     This out-of-system processing includes claims for correspondence courses, apprenticeship/OJT, flight training, Coast Guard cases and Tuition Assistance Top-Up.     The support unit is responsible for scanning and indexing paper documents (applications, enrollment certifications, etc.) into The Image Management System (TIMS).

TIMS was installed in July of 1997 and updated in June 2000.     This system allows paper documents to be captured and displayed in an electronic format on a computer screen.     Claims processors work from these electronic images rather than paper; this eliminates the need for paper files.     The system allows multiple users to view the electronic file at the same time.     TIMS also provides for electronic enrollment documents from schools to be directly imaged into the system to be worked by claims processors.

Graphic of the Money Symbol.Education case managers in the customer service section are responsible for handling the phone calls from the public and school officials.     Approximately 30,000 phone calls a month are received by the Atlanta RPO.     Calls range from requests for general information on education benefits to case specific payment issues and problems.     Members of the section also respond to internet inquiries and answer Congressional and White House correspondence.

Graphic of a Cut-out showing 2 Floors of an Office Buliding.The outreach section is responsible for all school approval and compliance activities, plus administering the work-study program.     Each state has an assigned Education Liaison Representative who works closely with the State Approving Agency and school officials in that state.     Though working for and under the supervision of the RPO, most of the employees in the outreach section are out-based, working out the VA Regional Office located in the state of their jurisdiction.

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